Arts feature
How Michael Craig-Martin changed a glass of water into a full-grown oak tree
‘Of all the things I’ve drawn,’ Michael Craig-Martin reflects, ‘to me chairs are one of the most interesting.’ We are…
How claims of cultural appropriation scuppered an acclaimed new ballet
On 14 March 2020 I was at Leeds Grand Theatre for the première of Northern Ballet’s Geisha. The curtains swung…
The unstoppable rise of stage amplification
Recent acquisition of some insanely expensive hearing aids aimed at helping me out in cacophonous restaurants has set me thinking…
How did we ever come to accept the inhumane excesses of capitalism?
What was neoliberalism? In its most recent iteration, we think of the market seeping into every minute corner of human…
Immersive and spectacular: Piet Oudolf’s new borders at RHS Wisley reviewed
Piet Oudolf’s long borders at Wisley were worn out. The famous designer had in fact become a bit embarrassed by…
Edinburgh has turned into a therapy session
Therapy seems to be the defining theme of this year’s Edinburgh festival. Many performers are saddled with personal demons or…
The tragic fate of Ukraine’s avant-garde
In a recent interview Oleksandr Syrskyi, the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, said that he spends his time off…
Why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies
Sherlock Holmes fans will be delighted to know that there is a new play featuring the great man. In it…
Are kids’ games under threat?
We hear a lot about the rights of the child, but the first I heard of the child’s right to…
Why I fell out of love with Wagner
It’s four years since I gave up opera criticism. The pandemic had struck, I had hit a significant birthday, and…
Forget monetary policy, the Bank of England’s greatest crime was architectural
In 1916 the Bank of England committed what Nikolaus Pevsner was to call the greatest architectural crime to befall London…
Meet the musicians trying to revive French-language pop
The other day, I went to see a nouveau riot-girl band called Claire Dance play in a disused factory in…
‘I want every production I do to be the funniest’: an interview with Cal McCrystal
There are certain things that you don’t expect at the opera. Laughter, for example. Proper laughter, that is; not the…
The craft renaissance
As long ago as the 1960s, the poet Edward James was worried that traditional crafts were dying out. Having frittered…
An exclusive look at Graham Linehan’s Father Ted musical
The tree-lined streets of Rotherhithe are an odd place to unveil a West End musical. But this is a suitably…
The unstoppable rise of country music
When a major artist releases a new album, the first thing to follow is the onslaught of think pieces. And…
The woman who revolutionised British fashion: Barbara Hulanicki interviewed
‘I was one of your original customers in Kensington Church Street,’ I tell the founder of Biba when we meet.…
It’s time to free art from being ‘interactive’ and ‘immersive’
The American artist and critic Brad Troemel once pointed out that art galleries have all turned into a kind of…
‘I couldn’t afford loo roll’: Bruce Robinson on being skint, Zeffirelli’s advances and Withnail’s return
Bruce Robinson is ramming a huge log into the grate of his ancient fireplace in mud-clogged Herefordshire. He’s 77 and…
We have lost an unforgettable teacher and one of the greatest living critics
Tanner, the critic RICHARD BRATBY Michael Tanner (1935-2024), who died earlier this month, had such a vital mind and stood…
The tumultuous story behind Caravaggio’s last painting
For centuries no one knew who it was by or even what it was of. The picture that had hung…
The quiet brilliance of street photographer Saul Leiter
This is the second exhibition of mid-century New York street photography at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes. The first,…
